


In The Limelight

by Beryll (Rynthjan)



Series: Sir Yaden [16]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, p2, phoenix empire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-18
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-31 03:05:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3962059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rynthjan/pseuds/Beryll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The second Sir Yaden movie, "Sir Yaden and the Windmines of Bora Bora" is finally done. This time Yaden and his family make it to the premier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Limelight

"...coming to you LIVE from the iconic Seven Amsterdams Theatre for the long awaited premier of 'Sir Yaden and the Windmines of Bora Bora'. After the smashing success of 'Sir Yaden and the Demon Witches of Leichnam' - which has become one of the most watched Phoenix Knights movies - we have all been kept waiting for way too long for our hero's second adventure. Tonight we will finally learn how Sir Yaden acquired his handsome squire Ivan..."

"Oh my god...," Ivan groaned and hid his face in his hands.

Yaden patted his shoulder comfortingly. They were in a posh hover limousine, circling above the theatre, waiting for their turn to embark onto the red carpet that had been prepared in front of the grand entrance. Several hundred fans and reporters clustered around the carpet, trying to gain the attention of the various celebrities present for the premier. The slow drizzle did nothing to cool down the excited crowd.

Apart from the actors playing them and the movie's director, Yaden and Ivan were the main attraction so they would be one of the last to land. They were keeping themselves amused with watching the pre-show on the small screen in the limousine.

"...heard it on good authority that this time Sir Yaden will have the time to attend this premier in person. Of course yours truly will try her best to ask Squire Ivan the questions you all want answers to...," the perfectly styled reporter girl under her equally stylish umbrella continued and winked at the camera suggestively.

"Do I really have to go out there...?" Ivan whimpered.

Yaden chuckled. "What? You're afraid of the styrofoam demon bull they have in the foyer? You're going to let me face that alone without you having my back?"

Colin, who was sitting across from them in the spacious limousine's passenger compartment, folded down the magazine he was reading to pointedly glare at Ivan.

"Of course not." Ivan quickly crafted a smile full of fake enthusiasm onto his face. "Wouldn't think of it, boss. I am well aware what the most dangerous thing around here is."

With a satisfied grunt Colin went back to reading. He looked absolutely fabulous in his black suit with black dress shirt. Yaden had definite plans on what he intended to do with his husband when the premier and after show party were over and they very much involved the removal of said suit.

"OH MY GOD!" Myriam exclaimed in an entirely different tone. She was plastered against the limousine window, intent on not missing a single detail of the sights outside. "I CAN'T WAIT for the premier of my first movie once I'm a Phoenix Knight. This is SO AWESOME! I'm going to sign autographs until my hand falls off!"

"I'm sure there will be plenty of fans who will want your autograph even now," Yaden told her indulgently.

Myriam grinned with utter delight. "Do I look good? Phoenix Knight daughtery enough?"

"You look great," Ivan told her with a real smile. "The new leather jacket is pretty cool."

After her first mission together with Yaden, Myriam had decided that it was time for a style make over and she had thrown out all the clothing she considered 'little girly' and exchanged them for attire that was 'both sturdy and cool'. Her new favourite item was a lightly armoured black leather jacket with a red dragon on the back. It also had lots of pockets for whatever it was she deemed necessary for her current activities. She was fourteen and ready to take on the world. Yaden was ridiculously proud of her.

Fifteen minutes later, it finally was their turn. Stepping out of the limousine felt like walking into a wall of sound. The younger, female part of the audience was shrieking at the top of their lungs. It was a behaviour Yaden had observed plenty of times, still it never failed to confuse him. At least he was much better off with his mixed fans than Sir Relais, who was blessed with a mostly teenaged, female fan base. Then again, Relais was handling those fans with much more ease than Yaden ever would. Having a Phoenix Knight for everyone's needs was the Emperor's plan. He was still dreadfully short of achieving that, though.

They slowly made their way across the red carpet, waving to the fans and for the cameras and stopping for some photos and to sign autographs. They managed to evade all the nosy reporters apart from the one who had been sanctioned by the PR team and who only asked pre-approved, harmless questions. The cheery girl they had watched in the limousine kept shouting for Ivan to please, please come talk to her, but he just blew her a kiss, waved and then dodged into the foyer. 

The heavy, oaken double doors kept the noise outside. The Seven Amsterdams Theatre was the only large cinema located in the Opera district of Imperial City and had a tradition reaching back almost as far as the Old Opera itself. It had been commissioned by a movie loving Habichtswald noble centuries ago and built accordingly. Wooden panels, thick dark green carpets, oil paintings of ancient movie scenes and crystal chandeliers made the foyer look like a dream from a distant era.

After the second succession war, it had fallen into disrepair and been used as a low price clothing store for a while, but then it had been bought by a wealthy commoner investor and lovingly restored to its former glory. Now it was back in business for almost ten years again and had probably earned that investor ten times as much as he had originally spent on it. Every important movie premier happened here, since Opera offered such a splendid backdrop and noble patrons loved the fact that the theatre was too small to 'fit in the rabble'.

Yaden and his family preferred the huge cineplexes in Ridge where they could watch a movie unrecognized and grab a pile of pizza right next door afterwards.

But this was work, not fun.

An aide from the PR team materialized next to them as soon as all of them were inside and gently ushered them to the cordoned off VIP section of the foyer. Even here, where everyone was someone, there were people who were even more special.

Myriam kept up a running commentary under her breath, pointing out various celebrities, both noble and commoner. Yaden had no idea who most of these people were, but his daughter graciously included the most important facts.

"Oh, wow, look, that's Jonah Gregin," she suddenly whispered, accompanied by furious yanking on his sleeve. "He plays you. And the guy he has in tow is Kenneth Sath, he plays Ivan."

So far, Yaden had never had a chance to actually meet the guy who portrayed him and who so very much didn't look anything like him at all. But now it looked like that was about to change since the two actors were heading straight for him. They both looked a little nervous and Yaden had to remind himself that it probably was quite special for them to meet an actual Phoenix Knight, even if it really was their work that was being celebrated tonight.

Jonah really was ridiculously tall, he thought as the actor stopped in front of him, nearly a head taller than Yaden himself and with the wide shoulders and narrow hips of an accomplished athlete.

"Sir Yaden... it's such an honour to meet you," the actor started nervously. 

He looked like he wasn't sure whether to bow or shake his hand, so Yaden took the decision from him and took his hand to give it a firm shake. "It's a pleasure," he replied. "Damn, you're even taller than you look in the movies!"

Jonah gave a startled laugh and Yaden smiled, happy that for once he had managed to nimbly avoid the 'wow, you are short!' comment.

"I wanted to thank you for all the notes you put down for me, to better understand how your powers work," Jonah said earnestly. "That has been so helpful. Especially in this movie, for portraying how being covered in dirt all the time was a good thing from your point of view. It was such a fascinating glimpse into your mind and I really appreciate that I am allowed to play such a rich and complex character."

Yaden blinked at him in consternation. It was really weird to hear someone he'd never met talk about his personality like he had studied it in depth. He vaguely remembered Darren asking him a long list of questions courtesy of the PR team. But that had been before he and Ivan had been lost in Calarni space for nearly a year. Apparently Darren had gone through the trouble of making comprehensible notes from Yaden's clueless answers.

"You're welcome." Yaden answered graciously and made a mental note to thank Darren and ask him what exactly he had put into those notes.

"Oh, and this is Kenneth." Jonah introduced the young actor, who had been hiding behind his broad shoulders so far. 

He looked to be in his early twenties at most. He didn't look as different from Ivan as Jonah looked from Yaden, but still different enough that Ivan would easily be able to blend in on undercover missions. Their real faces were of course visible in the QuestLog and on various merchandise, but they were much less publicised then their counterpart actors. While Jonah seemed only slightly nervous about interacting with the person he was playing on screen, Kenneth looked like he was going to die any moment, looking back and forth between Yaden and Ivan like they were some sorts of mystical beasts, about to devour him.

"Hi," Ivan greeted him with a small smile. "Hope you had fun playing me."

"I... uh..." The kid looked like he was a second away from meltdown, but then he franticly dug through his pockets until he produced the glossy special invitation ticket for tonight. "Can... would you sign it for me... please...?" he asked with starry eyed hope.

So far, Ivan had been rather uncomfortable with all the attention centred on him, but this managed to thaw him up. "Of course," he said with genuine kindness. He signed his name with a flourish. Kenneth accepted the ticket back with reverential gratitude and carefully put it back in the inner pocket of his jacket.

"It's his first big movie," Jonah explained and put an arm around Kenneth's shoulders. "He'll get used to it. Looks like we'll be making a whole lot more movies together, eh, kid?"

Yaden and Ivan exchanged a glance, both of them amused by the fact that their actors seemed to have a somewhat similar relationship as they had had when they had started working together.

"It sure looks that way," Yaden agreed with him.

He would have liked to make some more small talk, but the PR team aide took that moment to re-materialize and usher all of them into the actual theatre to take their assigned seats. Yaden was a little surprised that he was actually looking forward to seeing the movie. The overblown romance in 'Sir Yaden and the Demon Witches of Leichnam' was too weird for him to truly enjoy, but this one promised a fair bit of comedy and a ton of action. He was really curious how well they had managed to capture that insane three way fight between him and Ivan, the organ traders and the demon worshippers.

From his right, Colin's hand sneaked into his and then Colin leaned closer to plant a little kiss on his jaw. It was such a simple gesture of affection, but it was one of the many reasons why he loved his husband so very much. Because they used every opportunity they had to be close.

A small sigh from his left drew his attention back to Ivan, who had slumped in his seat.

"Are you alright?" Yaden asked him quietly, not to draw any attention from others in the audience.

"Yeah," Ivan answered just as quietly. "It's just... watching you just there... I wish Kumari could be here... We talked about the movie. She really wants to see it, too. I... I wish we could share stuff like this... but it will never happen."

Yaden echoed his friend's sigh. Since Kumari had first written to Ivan, many letters had travelled back and forth between them and Ivan had visited her twice. Yaden wasn't sure at what exact status their relationship was, but it was pretty clear that Ivan was seriously in love. That he had no idea how to help them didn't sit well with Yaden. But even if Ivan wasn't a slave, he still would never get permission from Kumari's family to marry her. 

"Stranger things have happened," Yaden said. "I remember a slave so hopeless he was ready to die when a door opening distracted him from that idea."

That earned him a well-placed elbow in the ribs but also a lopsided grin from Ivan. "Asshole," his friend muttered.

Then the music started and they both turned their attention back to the big screen.


End file.
